AN: Sorry for the wait! here's ch.7 of Fallout: a path best not taken!
Amata was running, something she found herself doing a lot lately ever since she was forcefully taken from her home and even more so now that she was with the Lone Wanderer. A bullet impacted near her feet quickly snapped her mind back into focus. The safety of the underpass that seemed so far away when The Lone Wanderer told her to run was now within reach and she could only hope one of the raiders didn't get lucky and put a bullet in her back. When she got close enough she dived behind one of the huge pillars that held up the structure. She could still hear the sound of guns being fired which meant they were still fighting, a clear sign that The Lone Wanderer was still alive.
'My God how do you get yourself into these situations?' his mind angrily thought as The Lone Wanderer popped out from behind cover and fired his lever action rifle. His attackers didn't seem to be the normal 'run of the mill' raiders, they were organized, at least to the point of taking orders from one individual in particular, he didn't wear normal raider's armor in fact he wore an black outfit with metal spikes sticking from the shoulder pads and from the looks of it he was going to be trouble to deal with.
"Will someone go get the damn girl, and will someone grow a got damn brain and circle around this asshole!" He heard the leader bark orders. One raider tore off from the group and started heading towards the underpass, The Lone Wanderer trained his sights on the raider but was forced back into cover by gunfire.
He cursed as another bullet zipped over his cover. "Alright, got to think, what do I got." He mused to himself as he went over a mental checklist, His thought was interrupted when a sudden flash of heat washed over his cover. He looked around and noticed flames licking at the side of the building he was in.
'A flamethrower? Where the hell did they get a flamethrower from?' he thought. The cover he was behind wouldn't last for long at this rate and if he didn't want to end up as a charred corpse he needed to move fast.
Amata dared poked her head from the safety of her cover, she could see smoke rising up in the distance where she left the Lone Wanderer but something more sinister grabbed her attention. A raider managed to slip by the gunfight and was heading straight for her.
"Shit! What do I do?" she whispered to herself as she relocated to another pillar farther from the incoming raider. She remembered the gun the Lone Wanderer had given her then cursed again as she remembered leaving it back at the now burning building.
'Come on Amata! THINK! If you can't handle one individual then he was right about you all along.'
Back at the burning bed and breakfast the Lone Wanderer was weighing the odds of surviving this encounter and the results weren't pretty. With a deep sigh he readied himself. He popped from cover and quickly entered V.A.T.S everything slowed to a crawl he selected his targets and fired. Everything seemed to snap back into real time as a round slammed into the chest of the flame wielding raider, another round managed to plant itself into another raider's head dropping him instantly. Their Leader however managed to grab a nearby raider in time to act as his bullet shield and several rounds slammed into the poor fool before being discarded like trash. "Don't tell me that's all you got-" The raid leader was cut off as six more rounds were fired with deadly pinpoint accuracy from behind him, each one taking out the rest of his crew leaving him standing alone surrounded by dead corpses. The Lone Wanderer looked pass the confused raider and saw a shady silhouette in the distance with an old world hat and trench coat on. The mysterious figure blew the smoke off his scoped .44 Magnum and turned to leave.
"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU AND WHY THE HELL ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME!?" The Lone Wanderer yelled after him but got no reply as the mysterious man disappeared from view.
"Can someone please tell me? What the hell just happened!?" the only remaining raider yelled in frustration.
As if answering the raider's question The Lone Wanderer put a 10mm round through his leg. He screamed in pain before falling to the ground.
"Wait, now hold on, no need to get trigger happy." He said as the Wanderer trained his sights on him.
"And why shouldn't I blow your brains all over the ground." The Lone Wanderer asked not really caring for the answer.
"Because that nice piece of ass you had running off is probably getting rammed right about now." He laughed manically but it was short lived as the Wanderer put another round in his good leg causing him to yell in pain again. "What the hell was that for?" He asked through the pain.
"I don't want you running off anytime soon. I'll deal with you later." The Lone Wanderer answered before taking off for the underpass hoping Amata was still alive.
"Here kitty, kitty, kitty, where are you? Won't you come out and play?" the raider taunted as she looked behind rubble.
"We'll have so much fun! You screaming and begging for mercy while I laugh and cut your fucking fingers off!" she yelled as she banged on a nearby pillar.
Amata had managed to stay out of sight but the raider was getting closer, she did her best not to panic and to think of something but nothing was coming to mind.
"you only making it worst for yourself, I play hide n' kill all the time and guess who wins, ME!" the raider said as she popped around a corner only to find no one there. She had searched every possible hiding spot except for one, a pillar at the far end of the over pass. "Then again they sometimes slip away." She said as she walked off. Amata waited a few minutes before sticking her head out, she saw no one was there. She couldn't believe the raider had left, she breathed a sigh of relief but it was premature as a quick moving shadow caught her eye. She quickly spun around only to see the very raider standing right behind her staring her in the eye.
"BOO! Motherfucker!" the raider yelled, scaring Amata to the point that she jumped back and fell on the ground.
"I found ya, I found ya, and now I get to kill ya!" the raider happily sang. Amata was petrified with fear, her mind screamed 'RUN' but her body refused to comply.
"Now what am I going to do to you." The raider thought as she crossed her arms and paced around her new prey her sick imagination coming into play. Amata's fight or flight instincts finally kicked in as she quickly got up off the ground and raised her fist awkwardly, she had never been in a fight before then again she never had a problem with any of the people in the vault that someone else didn't handle for her.
'There's no guards here to protect you and you can't always depend on him to save you ass every time. Amata.'
The raider looked on at the bravado of her victim and was slightly amused. "Well I guess I can beat the shit out of you before killing you." She laughed, Amata had never wanted to wipe the smirk off someone's face so much before now. She lashed out and struck first hitting the raider square in the jaw, she quickly pulled her fist back before shaking the painful recoil off.
"Don't tell me that was all you got!" The raider laughed, "That wasn't a punch, here let me show you how it's done." The raider slugged the young red head square on the chin sending her crashing to the ground. Amata was quickly regretting picking a fight with the raider as she started iron taste made itself known in her mouth, her head was already ringing when the raider hit her again and again. It took everything just to stay focus. The raider stood her up before kneeing her in the stomach causing her to cough up whatever was left in it along with some blood. The raider stop for only a second and used her hands to frame Amata up for the next shot as she delivered a unforgiving uppercut to the poor girl. Everything seemed to slow down for Amata as she found herself looking up at the sky. It seem so peaceful, so serene, that was until her back hit the ground snapping her back into reality.
"Aww man, I wish the guys could see this, I'm whipping that ass!" the raider gloated, as Amata turned herself over and tried to crawl away.
"Aww whats this, trying to get away? Oh, I get it. You're hoping lover boy comes to your rescue don't you? Well I got some bad news he probably left you, or he could be dead, your pick really, but the fact of the matter is he's not coming to save you." The raider mocked as she kicked Amata in the rib to deliver the message. She grabbed a fist full of her hair and pulled as she squatted down beside her.
"Oh what's this? Are these tears? But are they tears of pain, or maybe fear, sadness? I wonder." The raider mocked as she took her tongue and licked the salty tears off Amata's cheek. "Holy shit it's all the above." The raider laughed.
Something deep down was starting to rise to the surface for Amata, something she never felt before, she could hardly focus on staying conscience much less figure out what this feeling was but it told her not focus on it but on a rock within grasping distance, she didn't bother rationalizing and simply went for it. No sooner had she managed to grasp it the feeling took over, like a bolt of lightning the hand carrying the rock slammed the piece of earth into the raider's nose braking it. The sudden shock of pain caused the raider to let go of Amata's hair and focus on her own nose instead.
"The fuck that reall-" The raider didn't get a chance to finish as Amata quickly got up and lashed at her with the rock again this time catching the raider on the side of temple knocking her to the ground, Amata threw the rock at her ditching it only so she could get a bigger one, using both hands she hefted a rock the size of her head and lifted it above her own. The raider raised her hand in a vain attempt to stop her attacker, Amata brought the stone down on top of the raiders head causing a gash to open up the raider's forehead. The blood seemed to just drive Amata mad as she got on top of the raider and continued her assault, bring the stone down again and again, she didn't see that the raider's chest had stopped moving or that there was no more attempts to stop her from attacking. All she saw was the raider's face laughing, mocking her over and over again until a hand grabbed her, she quickly swung to face her new attacker only to find a familiar cowl staring back at her. Only then did she come to her senses and realize what she had done, she looked back at her 'handiwork' the sight of the crushed raider's face which no longer held any resemblance nor much of a head did the trick as she quickly pushed pass the Lone Wanderer and vomited.
"Not. A. Word." She heaved, as she vomited again. The Lone Wanderer had thought up of something witty to say but figured it wasn't the best time.
"How much did you see?" Amata managed to ask, she didn't even bother turning to face him.
"Only the point when you got tired of getting your ass handed to you." The Lone Wanderer answered. He had gotten a good look at Amata, swollen jaw, puffy eyes, dirt, cuts and bruises, along with disheveled hair complete with a small trickle of blood from her mouth were all the telltale signs of her survival instinct kicking in. He knew firsthand what that was like, being pushed beyond the breaking point, the will to live overwriting one's morals.
"Wastlander with a combat knife." He said.
"What?" was Amata's only reply, she didn't have to patience to deal with his antics at the moment.
"My first kill, and it wasn't pretty. Gave him bottled water, Idiot decides he wants more came at me with a knife with the intent to kill me for my water. Needless to say he doesn't have to worry about thirst anymore."
"…How do you do it? Deal with the guilt?" she managed to bring herself to ask.
"Guilt? Heh, it's been so long I don't think about it, you'll get over it." He answered.
"I'll get over it? What kind of fucked up answer is that!?" she shouted.
"As in this is 'The Capital Wasteland' answer, no one cares if a raider dies whether it be by bullet, bat, or rock in your case. There are plenty of people, animals, things out here that wouldn't think twice about ripping your throat out and making you lunch. So don't get caught up on one life and simply focus on yours." He retorted, he turned and started to leave, heading back towards the smoking ruins that was Katelyn's Bed & Breakfast.
"Where are you going?" Amata asked, quickly jogging after him
"I got some loose ends that need tying." He answered as he unslung his lever action rifle.
When they got back to his surprise the raider leader wasn't there, all that was left was a trail of blood splatter heading away from the carnage.
"You killed all of them?" Amata asked a bit astonished.
"Yeah, we'll just say that happened." He muttered to himself. "No drag marks so he must've hobbled off." He reasoned. He thought about going after him but he notice the sun was beginning to make it's decent towards the horizon. "Alright, you take that side and I'll take this side." He said pointing at the corpse littering the ground.
"You're kidding…Right?" Amata asked. She may have killed someone but part of her still wasn't ready to 'scavenge' a dead body.
"Oh, well if you prefer killing things with rocks, by all means. Oh and I call dibs on the flame thrower." He said, Amata thought for a second that he sounded happy but figured it was just her mind playing tricks on her. She sighed as she prepared herself for the task at hand.
The Lone Wanderer can see her hesitation as she nitpicked over the corpses. "Think of it as shopping only you don't have to pay." He joked, trying to lighten the mood.
Amata looked around, doing her best not to look at the lifeless eyes and gore, she managed to pull a 10mm pistol from a dead raider's hands and pocketed it she also notice a hunting rifle lying next to raider slumped over a rock she went to retrieve it only to find that the raider wasn't dead yet as he grabbed her by the wrist. She locked eyes with him for only a brief second before using her free hand to pull out her newly acquired 10mm pistol and shooting him in the head. The Lone Wanderer rushed over to see what had happened.
"You ok, Amata?" he asked a bit concern hinted in his voice.
She holstered her pistol and picked up the hunting rifle. "I fine remember, no one cares if a raider dies." She quoted him as she walked away.
AN: Thank you for reading! Sorry it took a while to upload, been having writer's block recently but I got the creative juices flowing again and the next chapter should be up soon.
